


Sweetening the Deal

by LamiasLuck



Series: Timid Speech [11]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Chocolate, Fluff and Humor, Host is a creepy boi, Kinda fluff, M/M, Minor Violence, One-Sided Attraction, minor character violence, radio show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25515043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LamiasLuck/pseuds/LamiasLuck
Summary: Host invites Eric to see his morbid radio show live. Of course, the shy ego is put off by the horrors he narrates, so perhaps Eric can do something to deter him from committing a crime. It will be one less dead character.
Relationships: Eric Derekson/The Host
Series: Timid Speech [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1392571
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Sweetening the Deal

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't apart of the main Timid Speech series. Think of this as another au

_“Michelle finds herself wandering aimlessly through the forest. She swears she’s seen this area 50 times already. Or perhaps she hasn’t. Every bit of nature within such a dense place blends together after a while.”_ Host tilts his head and smiles. His tone reflects his actions well. _“Will she ever find her dearest friend with such taxing conditions? It seems like her body is screaming for rest.”_

The old tv screens buzz lowly and showcase Host’s story from every angle. He has no use for them, truly, but he likes having a live crowd to see the intricacies of his work. His onlooker today, Eric, watches on with an unsettling pit forming in his stomach. The squeamish crowds always make him enjoy the process more. Makes him know he’s doing a good job with his material.

Someone gave the timid ego a chocolate bar before starting to shut him up as if he is a rowdy dog. Not like Eric wants to interrupt Host while he works, though it gets hard with how badly he feels for the characters. Maybe the others feel bad that the twisted radio host likes to tug him along for private showings of his stories. Well, the chocolate somewhat helps. He tries to focus on the sweetness as tv’s poor audio quality picks up on a desperate cry.

Eric looks up at one of the screens. Host’s character is weeping on her knees, cursing out to the cruel gods that let this happen. Host is no god. He’s simply a man that gets too power-hungry to control himself. Not like this poor character knows. She won’t survive to make it to the second act at this rate.

_“Despite the odd and_ ** _unscripted_** _action,”_ Host’s tone turns bitter as he digs his nails into the wooden desk, _“Michelle forces herself up to continue her search.”_ One thing he hates: uncooperative characters. A pet peeve that has always been with him even in his past life as Author. _“After a minute, she slams her head into a tree because_ ** _clearly_** _she wants to think irrationally.”_

Host takes a minute to cool himself down. Eric flinches in his seat as the character does exactly what Host narrated. The man can control the masses with his narrations. Eric is glad Host seems content to settle with these little stories for now, and that he agrees to not hurt him or any of the other egos. Who knows what will happen if, god forbid, he grows bored of these tales.

_“Eventually, after her little episode, she continues on in her search. It seems more like a fruitless task with each passing minute.”_ Host drums his fingers on the desk as his smooth, calm voice returns. Zero to a hundred just like that. Though, he is growing bored of this slow burn.

Something is moving on one of the screens, and it isn’t the main character. Eric catches glimpses of a shadowy figure dash by one of the lower TVs. Host isn’t phased by it, meaning he knows it's there. This isn’t going to go well. Eric knows he won’t be able to stomach what he has planned, so in a fit of impulse, he decides to try to suggest his own ending.

With a quick motion, Eric stands up and clicks the off button on Host’s microphone; right before Host can narrate again. As quick as that happens, he backs away and chews on his lip. He’s holding what’s left of his candy close to his chest like it will protect him.

It’s quiet for a moment. Host slowly turns around and tilts his head up as if he can look at Eric. “What was that?” He asks in an annoyed voice. Truly, he can’t find himself too mad at the other. Something about that nervousness endears him, but he can’t just have people interrupt his show like that. He has people to entertain! Characters to fuck with!

“Um...” Eric looks down at his feet, “I-I, uh, wanted to suggest something?”

“The Host doesn’t take story suggestions,” he replies, deadpanned. He goes to turn on his microphone again, but Eric catches his hand.

“Please!” He squeaks. “I really, um, r-really want to!”

Host notices how clammy Eric’s hand is. Maybe also how soft and nice it is to hold, but he digresses. That’s something he’ll address another time.

With a loud sigh, Host mutters, “Fine.” He lightly scraps Eric’s knuckles with his nails, which makes the other’s hand twitch in his hold. “Make this worth the Host’s time.”

“I will!” Eric may not have any sort of plan. He hastily takes back his hand and thinks quickly. “Can th-there be a-a happy ending...?”

Host scoffs, “Where’s the fun in that? Boring.”

“B-But you always have, uh, such sad stories! You sh-should, should change it up.” He looks back at the screen and notices the shadow traveling across the screens. Towards the main character. “I-I can give you, um...” his voice becomes quieter, if that is possible, “the rest of this chocolate...?”

Oddly enough, Host pouts a little. “Was Eric not going to share that candy in the first place?” He asks, voice uncharacteristically weak.

“That worked?” Eric blinks but quickly recovers from his shock. He hides the candy behind his back and huffs at Host. “Yeah! I-I only give you this if you, if-if you let her find her friend! An-And get home safely!”

To add to the fire, he breaks off a little piece of chocolate and eats it. “This is really good too. Your loss if you don’t want to accept! I’ll just, just eat this by. My. Self.” He pops another piece in his mouth and gloats about it.

“That’s so mean,” Host says as if he isn’t going to let a monster maim his poor main character. That chocolate did look good. Most likely, Wilford got it from some fancy chocolatier from god knows where. The really rare stuff. Yet, Eric doesn’t budge even with the high stakes in this deal. Host eventually gives up. “Very well then.”

He turns back around and clicks on his microphone. _“In a surprising turn of events, Michelle has a feeling of where to go.”_ The shadowy figure fades away, much to Eric’s relief. _“As she expertly traverses the woods, she finds a key. This is no ordinary key, however, as it’s the one she needs to unlock the cage her friend resides in. To add on the unlikely events, her friend is unharmed.”_

Eric watches with a smile as the scene plays before him. To think he saved two people’s lives with some candy. Life with the egos is one surprise after another.

_“They share a tight embrace as they’re finally reunited. Safe and sound as they should be. Michelle manages to weave them out of the forest, where they find more luck in hitchhiking their way back home. One day, what should have been a nightmare, will become a fun story to tell their friends and family during get-togethers. The end.”_ It hurts Host to have such a vanilla ending. There are no stakes here. Absolutely no fun to be had in this story. _“That, dear listeners, is an impromptu rewrite caused by powers out of the Host’s control. He promises to bring a better, more eventful story next broadcast. May that tale find his listeners in good health. Goodnight.”_

The microphone and radio are clicked off. In unison, the TVs switch off, and the buzzing stops. Completely silent.

Host turns around again and extends his hand. “The Host will take his prize now.”

Eric quickly hands him the candy bar with a shy smile. “Thank you...”

With an emotionless hum, Host breaks off a piece of chocolate. As he eats it, a grin appears on his face. “Now that was fun.”

“Wh-What...?”

“Not the story, of course. No, that was painful to describe,” Host exaggerates with a drawn-out sigh. Again, his mood quickly changes into something mischievous. “The way Eric acted. The Host has never seen such a display from him before.”

He breaks off another piece and puts it between Eric’s slightly parted, surprised lips. “Perhaps there is more than the cowardly lion here. Something to definitely look into in the future.”

The sweetness brings Eric out of his trace. He looks up at Host with a worried expression. “Wait... wh-what do you mean ‘l-look into’?”

Host simply ignores him and grabs his arm. “Come along now.” They start walking out of the library. “Eric should eat more than mere candy,” he says as he only eats mere candy for dinner. “There’s lots to explore with this new revelation.”

A shiver is sent down Eric’s spine. He follows the other obediently as his mind swims in worried thoughts. The way Host talks about him and his confidence. Somehow, someway, he managed to become a character in Host’s twisted narrative. All because of some dumb chocolate.

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this quickly late at night lol  
> Bigger fics in the works! Just had to get this thought out of my head. Different dynamics and such so if you guys want me to expand on this, just say so! I'm sure I can think of something
> 
> Tumblr: https://lamiasluck.tumblr.com/


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